Welcome to my new followers after my most popular #Fediverse post ever!

I realize I don't have an #introduction post up, so this is a good opportunity to fill the void. In short, this account is a dump. A mental dump of what I have to blurt out to the world.

Here I'm mainly known for working on #Friendica (#programming ), one of many pieces of software part of the #Fediverse. We strive to be compatible with as many decentralized social media protocols as possible, at the moment we're compatible with #Diaspora, #ActivityPub (think Mastodon) and #OStatus, with optional connectors with #Twitter and others.

I also own a second-hand #LEGO store front where I sell sets and parts: https://store.bricklink.com/MrPetovan

I have an 8-year old kid (#parenting ), play #VideoGames and often have opinions about them. I also love #BoardGames but I'm missing fellow players around me. I like #Riding (trains, buses, planes, skateboard, snowboard) but it doesn't really define me. I drove a #drift car over a couple days once and it was both exhilarating and frustrating.

Friendica doesn't have a post character limit but I still infrequently post longer pieces on my blog: https://blog.mrpetovan.com

Last bit you may want to know about me before following me on here: I am not in favor of absolute free speech. Online spaces need to be moderated to counter the real life discriminating power dynamics.

Nice to meet you!

On @clayot 's suggestion, I got Before We Leave by Balancing Monkey Games and its reputation of chill city builder isn't undeserved. It reminds me of the Anno series with the different islands that can be colonized but without the tension of balancing a budget nor interacting with competing countries/tribes.

Instead building space is sparse, so there are real constraints on expansion. The more advanced production chains induce pollution and happiness penalties, so I've been mostly avoiding them since your people's happiness is a major goal given the associated speed/productivity gains/losses (50% to 150%).

So far I've been following the in-game tutorial, and I reached a point where it just says "Expand until something happens" and I'm mostly like "Nah, I'm good" but in a good way. I have a couple planets to explore in the solar system which I will get to, eventually, but making sure everybody eats their fruits and vegetables and wear clothing is more important to me, even though it doesn't result in any sort of monetary profits.

So far for me it's been more a people-caring game than a city-building one, and it's very good like this.

#videogames #review

Since I installed Disco Elysium: The Final Cut by ZA/UM a week ago, I practically inhaled it, playing it every chance I got, for as long as I physically could, until I finished it yesterday night in about 30 hours.

I knew I wanted to write about it because I have Opinions™ but when I opened a new blog post about it, I couldn't come up with any structured text. I still feel the need to write about my experience, and as a result the following may be a little discombobulated.

First of all, Disco Elysium is a full-on artistic experience. The graphic style, the music, the writing all are outstanding in their own right. The gameplay is also pleasing. The role-playing mechanics are clear and satisfying, with meaningful choices and a welcome tinge of randomness for tension.

As with most other RPGs with multiple choices within a linear story, I won't play it ever again. I enjoyed my playthrough that I made mine, and I don't want to learn the limitations of the choices, I don't want to find out about the narrative funnels I would be forced through.

Still, the game is pretty forgiving, and through the excellent inner monologue interjections, the game is able to regularly hint as negative dialogue outcomes to avoid them. It also affords to go meta and comment on some the player's actions rather than the actual character, which got some well-deserved laughs out of me.

The political content added in the Final Cut has been mostly disappointing. The game's nihilistic message doesn't leave a lot of room to develop any political ideology, and it results in a shallow criticism of all the presented ideologies that eventually amounts to absolutely nothing. Additionally, using some real-world political ideologies (communism, fascism) was confusing as the historical context, important to define these terms, wasn't the same at all. I developed this point earlier: https://friendica.mrpetovan.com/display/735a2029-1761-576b-54bd-625220881901

I also noticed in the credits the mention of the hosts of the Chapo Trap House podcast as voice actors, and combined with the aforementioned lack of political substance of the game, it confirms my belief that this podcast and the larger "dirtbag left" culture it represents has less to do with politics than entertainment.

#videogame #videogames #DiscoElysium #review